By Kantarawaddy Times
A hospital set up by health workers who joined the protest movement after the military toppled the democratic government a year ago doesn’t have medicine or enough equipment for the 30 patients it treats daily in western Demawso Township.
A volunteer nurse said they don’t have enough equipment for deliveries and other surgeries and have to send them to other hospitals. ”Currently we can only treat coughs and sneezes,” she explains. Part of the problem is that it takes up to three weeks for the hospital in Karenni State to get more medicine when it runs out, as transport is very difficult due to Burma Army offensives and confiscation by soldiers.
”We still need an ultrasound machine and a vehicle for an ambulance,” said the nurse, asking that her name not be published.
Hka Nan hospital was founded on 24 January 2022 by doctors and nurses who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement against the regime last spring. It’s open from Monday to Friday and provides emergency services at weekends.
The Karenni Nationalities Defence Force estimates that the regime controls only 10 per cent of the state, while the rest is controlled by civil resistance fighters and civil societies in these areas provide vital health and education services to the indigenous and displaced population.
Over 170,000 people, or more than half of the 300,000 inhabitants of Burma’s smallest state, have been displaced by the regime’s offensives and the conflict with Karenni resistance groups, which has been heavy in Loikaw and Demawso townships since the start of this year.
